On the other hand, marijuana gives one the subjective feeling of increased interest in the task one is performing, and so I would think that its effect would be the opposite of the effect of these random distractions, which come about precisely because of our boredom.

The trick to being productive is to find something which you really enjoy doing, I would think, rather more than avoiding one or another incidental pleasure. No doubt marijuana has an effect on productivity, but I do not think it need always and everywhere be bad. On the other hand, no one could deny that marijuana does not abet us in specific tasks. I would not want to have a surgeon operate on me while high — but it is rather because it would make him hesitate and second-guess himself, I think, that because it would cloud his thinking.

Another thing to consider when thinking upon the way a drug effects our work, is what dosage of the drug we are using. One cannot assume that a large does will simply do more of the same thing as a small dose. One has to ask, whether the drug effects our ability to speak, or our ability to come to a decision, or in short our ability to perform any of the members of a given class of action. The best way to proceed, I would think, would be to consider whether or not we would want somebody to carry out some business for us in that state of mind, based on our own experience doing such things.

There is no doubt that marijuana in high doses makes it difficult to work. But marijuana seems, for me, to activate my capacity for speaking and thinking (it is as well to say this as it is to say, “activate the language center of the brain” — since these “centers” are just Aristotelian capacities in disguise).

Let’s consider of a few figures in popular music, namely Louis Armstrong, John Lennon, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, and Willie Nelson. (This is the handful I could come up with off the top of my head, I imagine the list could grow quite long) All of these individuals are, or have spent substantial periods of their lives as, regular marijuana users.

Now I’m interested in hearing anyone make the case that any of these individuals would fit into the category of “unproductive.” On the contrary, each is recognized as being one the most prolific musicians of our time, the creators of entire genres of music, and having made important contributions to 20th century thought and culture. And these accomplishments all happened during periods of regular marijuana use. (As you might guess, I wasn’t there when Dylan wrote “like a Rolling Stone” or when Lennon wrote “Imagine,” but I’d say it’s a good guess some of this stuff happened while they were stoned.)

As a working musician and song-writer myself, and a person who occasionally, and sometimes a little more than occasionally, smokes pot and hash, I understand that the state of mind one attains through these substances does have the tendency to enhance creativity, and in turn creative productivity. The conservative anti-drug crowd may refuse to accept that anything good could come from “drugs,” yet, in addition to my own first-hand experience, I appeal to the above evidence. I can imagine what it would be like for someone who is stoned and trying to do an IQ test who becomes bored and frustrated with such meaningless and shallow mental gymnastics and is subsequently distracted with the desire to write poetry.